Posts by Bungi Bill

57

40 years on - and still in Damage Control mode!

by Bungi Bill in

earlier this morning, i posted off to the the institute of engineers an application for membership as an "engineering associate":.

- today being just over 40 years since the congregation's retards elders made me abandon my apprenticeship.. (in this part of the world, the pre-1975 hype was taken to that level.

not being content to prevent young persons attending university, they went one step further and treated with hostility any youngster who would "tie up five years of their lives" by entering into an apprenticeship.

Bungi Bill

This is an update on how it has all progressed to so far.

In fact, the Institute of Engineers was short and to the point, virtually telling me in just so many words to "come back and see us when you have an Advanced Diploma."

So .................. I decided there and then to do just that! The Advanced Diploma course that I have enrolled on begins this coming Monday, and is carried out on-line, in what is often described as a "Virtual Classroom" situation. It is geared specifically for persons like me, who are working full time, who already have extensive industry experience, but need to obtain some formal academic qualification. (Recognition is granted for prior learning, thus reducing the course duration to 18 months - albeit though a very intense 18 months).

I have no doubt that this is going to present a challenge!

- working, as I do, an average of eleven hours per day.

- and it being over 30 years since I have done any serious academic studies (i.e. the Certificate of Engineering course, back in 1982).

However, I am still looking forward to the next year-and-a-half.

(There is, too, the "Hobson's Choice" factor to it - i.e. if I don't gain higher formal qualifications than I already have, then I possibly won't be able to retain the job I currently have).

Wish me luck, please!

Bill.

28

My daughter got her A Levels yesterday and is off to university in September

by Xanthippe in

jw
friends

she took english, maths and physics and acheived a* a* and a. .

it is the best thing possible for me, even better than seeing her opening birthday presents or the day she won the halloween fancy dress prize at school.. her dad died five years ago but she has coped and done so well at school.

it has shown me that despite what happens in life you can still do well and reach your goals, especially if you take a cult upbringing out of the equation!

Bungi Bill

I speak as someone who, as a teenager, was stopped by the JW elders from attending university:

- but who is about to resume tertiary studies some 40+ years later (the Advanced Diploma course actually begins this Monday).

All I can say to your daughter is "Go for your bloody life!"

It is possible to pick it up later on, but (as I am finding out) much harder to do than when you are fresh out of high school.

Bill

54

Premarital sex--how prevalent?

by wafflesandpancakes in

in my old congregation, everyone seems clean.

mostly chaste courtship, kingdom hall wedding, blah blah.. well there are lots of cases of fondling but they were soon forgotton.

when my husband and i confessed to sex before marriage, the elders were disgusted.

Bungi Bill

wafflesandpancakes,

After reading some of the accounts on this board, I often get the feeling that the JWs I knew must have been a straight-laced lot!

But, yes, over a 28 year period and around a dozen different congregations, my observation was that their "puritanical standards" on this matter were adhered to. Hard, yes (and in my own case, bloody hard!), but conformed to they were.

My experience, anyway, with this vexatious matter!

Bill.

165

Board of bitterness

by 1009 in

i always was a critical jw, now df and agnost.

but still this religion fascinates me.

in my eyes most jw are very sincere, but dumb sheep.. this board is filled with ex-jw.

Bungi Bill

I don't know that "what is moral is fluid". I tend to agree with the observations of Stephen Covey in his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People , that there are basic moral principles which are common to all the world's major and enduring religions.

Moreover, you don't need anybody (a religion or whatever) to tell you what these are:

- rather just imagine for yourself what the world would be like if the opposite were to prevail.

By the way, 1009, thanks for starting this thread. While some have reacted angrily (and initially, you pressed a few of my buttons, too!), I think that you have demonstrated that we can discuss such matters without hurting each other!

Bill.

92

Ouija Board!!!

by XPeterX in

to those who don't believe in this shyt:you'd better not post here .

ok...so you ever used it?what experiences do you have?were you able to summon a demon?what did he tell you?what did you see?i'm really curious and i wanna try it!.

Bungi Bill

Kojack57,

I have heard various versions of the "Ouija board being asked what was going to happen in 1975, and it flew off the table / exploded / burned down the building etc. etc. etc." story - to the point that I wonder if it is in the same category as that other JW urban legend:

i.e. the one about the pioneer sister who was spared the attentions of a serial murderer by the "Two Large Men" standing behind her - a pair of body guards who were invisible to her, but not to the guy she was talking to! (supposedly).

Bill

165

Board of bitterness

by 1009 in

i always was a critical jw, now df and agnost.

but still this religion fascinates me.

in my eyes most jw are very sincere, but dumb sheep.. this board is filled with ex-jw.

Bungi Bill

A "Board of Bitterness"?

My experience as a JW, together with what I have seen of other religious groups, has left me extremely distrustful of religion in any of its forms.

I do not take kindly to anybody that has caused me harm, and the JW religion has wrought me harm in various ways. It does make me feel better to, at times, vent my spleen on them by using a few unkind expressions with which to describe my feelings. If some like to call that "bitterness", then so be it!

Bill.

98

Another new book: Jehovah's Witnesses - AN EXPOSE, written by a former elder and retired veteran United Airlines pilot

by AndersonsInfo in

a comprehensive new book:.

"the good... the bad... the deceptive.... and worse!

an expose".

Bungi Bill

I would have thought that the time to form an opinion about a certain piece of writing is after you have read it through.

That is what I will be doing, anyway!

Bill.

136

Water Fluoridation

by still thinking in

jw
friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2vcgb_pgbte#at=679.

Bungi Bill

finallysomepride,

You have a PM

136

Water Fluoridation

by still thinking in

jw
friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2vcgb_pgbte#at=679.

Bungi Bill

While remaining rather sceptical towards this negative publicity about adding fluoride to public water supplies, there is something that I feel compelled to say here. According to Statistics New Zealand (June 2012 population estimates), New Zealand has 15 cities - not three, as has been claimed. Also, anybody that reckons Hamilton has only five traffic lights has very obviously never counted these for themselves! Likewise for the claim that you can walk from one end of the town to the other in 30 minutes. (Yeah - that I would like to see!) Hamilton does have its own research facilities, at the University of Waikato. Also, don't denigrate the Waikato Institute of Technology. (I happen to know something about that institution - it being where I obtained my Certificate of Engineering from). If - and it is a big if - these research facilities were not adequate enough, just 111 kilometres away are three excellent laboratories available in Auckland: Auckland University, Auckland University of Technology, and Manakau Institute of Technology. Contrary to what has been alleged, Hamilton does have the facilities to research this matter. Whether its decision to cease adding fluoride to its water supply is right or wrong, this decision has not been arrived at for lack of a suitable laboratory. Bill. PS: I am rather tempted to add a remark or two about the American tendency to rubbish everything non-American. However, there have been enough ad-hominem attacks made on this thread already, without me adding more!

43

"Worldly people don't love the same as Jehovah's Witnesses"

by Comatose in

in a conversation with my mum she said, "son the friends love you and care about you so much.

they would die for you.

that's something you don't find in the world.

Bungi Bill

When I decided to take a different course from my parents over the matter of the "Truth", my father did warn me

- "If you get into any trouble, the only ones who will help you will be from this family."

Boy was he right!

Ten years later, my wife's health collapsed. Were the Dubs there to help care for our three small children?

Like bloody hell they were!

Rather, I was accused of trying "to use people." Instead, the two older children were cared for during the day by a welfare group run as a joint-initiative by the local churches. This being in a small town, the irony of that was noted by many in the community, I can tell you!

Also, the youngest, not quite two years old at the time, was cared for by my terminally ill mother (who was dead before that year was over).

As my father correctly predicted, have any problems, and the only people you can rely on are those in your own family (whether "worldly" or otherwise.

Bill.